Bolgatanga, June 03, GNA - The Sanapi Aba Trust (SAT), a macro finance institution that has been operating in Ghana since in 1994, disbursed a total of 144 billion cedis nationwide to entrepreneurs in 2005. Out of this figure, 4.5 billion cedis were disbursed to 2,445 clients in the Upper East Region.

The Executive Director of SAT, Mr Tony Fosu, said most small and micro enterprises could do well with credit facilities at prevailing commercial rates but the problem was the lack of access to flexible credit facilities.

He said collateral security demanded by many financial institutions had prevented many entrepreneurs from accessing loans. Mr Fosu said SAT had been able to recover almost 98 percent of the loans and that it had helped a lot of assemblies to disburse their poverty alleviation fund, citing Kumasi Metropolitan, Obuasi and Asunafo South District Assemblies as examples. "SAT will continue to reach the economically active poor with a complete range of financial and social services for positive transformation of their lives."

He said there were fruitful deliberations between his outfit, Guinness Ghana Limited and the Venture Capital Investment Trust Fund to encourage farmers in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions to go in into sorghum farming which the breweries could use.

The Upper East Regional Branch Manager of SAT, Mr Joseph Aggiyem, said the Bolgatanga Branch of SAT had recorded almost 100 percent loan recovery rates for the past two years. Mr Aggiyem said an amount of 10 billion cedis was to be disbursed to 4,500 clients by the end of the year. Mr Boniface Gambila, the Upper East Regional Minister, appealed to SAT to grant loans to people in the region to go into tomato farming to feed the Pwalugu Tomato Factory that was being revamped. 03 June 06